


Incompetence as Best Friends

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s02e01 In the Shadow of Two Gunmen Part I
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-05-01
Updated: 2003-05-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 06:20:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15113579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: "They should've saved their best friends."





	Incompetence as Best Friends

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Incompetence as Best Friends**  
**by:** Kasey

**Character(s):** Sam, Josh, CJ, Toby  
**Category(s):** EP-RELATED: ITSo2G (Honest to God, could I write a few more fics related to this ep?)  
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, please don't sue me, etc. Short and unbetaed.  
**Summary:** "They should've saved their best friends." 

They sit in their respective offices, trying to pretend they're able to get something done. 

They can't do anything. Not just that they can't do anything productive, but they can't do anything. 

They can't save their best friends, they can't save the President, they can't concentrate, they can't fix the world. 

And while for Toby that's a fairly normal point of view, it's 180 degrees from where Sam's used to being. 

Maybe that's because his world was just turned upside-down. 

He didn't save his best friend. He pushed down CJ instead, saved her life, but now Josh is lying on an operating table. And while he has no ill-will against CJ...if he could replay the whole thing, he would run for Josh and push him down. Try and save his best friend, at least, and maybe take a bullet for him - if the need arose, he would without hesitation. 

Meanwhile, Toby sits and stews. 

Sam saved CJ's life while he was too busy hitting the deck and trying to save himself. His deputy saved his own best friend because he himself was too busy being a coward. 

Toby tries to reason that it's only because Sam was closer...but he remembers how quickly he hit the deck and didn't even think of anyone else. Not Josh, not Leo, not Sam, not even the President, he thought only about himself and not getting hit...or trampled. He didn't so much as contemplate saving anyone else. 

But in the end he saved Josh...a little. He found Josh when no one else did, and for that Sam's kicking himself - he feels he should've at least been able to FIND Josh, even if he couldn't save the man. Sam should've been able to find Josh and call for help, and instead Toby did that. Had it been left up to Sam, who knows when they might have thought of it? He was too busy picking up CJ's broken necklace to think about his best friend's safety. 

So they sit in their offices, both stewing, watching CJ deliver news on Josh's condition, thankful both are alive despite their incompetence as best friends. 


End file.
